What's the rush - Vikings Stadium vote II
Politics is a hairy business, even in good times. A tough economy, an election year and last year's state government shutdown are all further complicating the playing field for a proposed Minnesota Vikings stadium.
Lawmakers fear they'll be held accountable by angry taxpayers during the November elections if they support heavy public funding for the project, or they'll lose face if nothing is done and the team leaves town.
As a result, say political observers, House Speaker Kurt Zellers, the House Republican caucus and other key players have largely stood on the sidelines, waiting for action on a stadium bill to play out without them.
"There's a lack of leadership there because it's an election year. So I think everyone's trying to keep low," said Ron Sieloff, a Republican and former state House lawmaker who represented St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood in the 1970s and '80s.
Bert McKasy, a Republican lawyer and lobbyist, said lawmakers are waiting for the Minneapolis City Council or GOP and DFL leaders to take the lead.
"There's a little bit of waiting for who's going to go first," said McKasy, who represented the South St. Paul and Mendota Heights area in the Legislature in the 1980s.
"If you're a little leery about what the voter reaction is going to be, you don't want to vote on it unless you have to."
National politics play into those fears. Republicans took control of the state House and Senate in 2010 for the first time in 38 years,
but it's uncertain whether GOP voters will rally behind a presidential candidate and flock to the polls in November, or whether Democrats would do the same for President Barack Obama.
What's also uncertain is how those voters who do show up will vote in local and state races.
KEY PLAYER UNCONVINCED
Gov. Mark Dayton, state Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, and state Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, say their plan to build a $975 million stadium on the site of the Metrodome in Minneapolis is sound. It requires the state to pay $398 million using revenue from new electronic pull-tab games, rather than by tapping the state general fund.
A key player remains unconvinced and unwilling to put his political muscle behind the proposal. On Friday, March 16, Zellers raised concerns about what would happen if the pull-tab revenues fell short.
"The backup is the general fund," Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said at a state House briefing. "That's a huge problem. If (it's) taking money out of the general fund, which is schools, which is roads, that doesn't work."
Dayton lashed out this week at Republican leaders for not pushing harder for the stadium after the bill stalled in its first Senate committee hearing Wednesday.
Politics is a hairy business, even in good times. A tough economy, an election year and last year's state government shutdown are all further complicating the playing field for a proposed Minnesota Vikings stadium.
Lawmakers fear they'll be held accountable by angry taxpayers during the November elections if they support heavy public funding for the project, or they'll lose face if nothing is done and the team leaves town.
As a result, say political observers, House Speaker Kurt Zellers, the House Republican caucus and other key players have largely stood on the sidelines, waiting for action on a stadium bill to play out without them.
"There's a lack of leadership there because it's an election year. So I think everyone's trying to keep low," said Ron Sieloff, a Republican and former state House lawmaker who represented St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood in the 1970s and '80s.
Bert McKasy, a Republican lawyer and lobbyist, said lawmakers are waiting for the Minneapolis City Council or GOP and DFL leaders to take the lead.
"There's a little bit of waiting for who's going to go first," said McKasy, who represented the South St. Paul and Mendota Heights area in the Legislature in the 1980s.
"If you're a little leery about what the voter reaction is going to be, you don't want to vote on it unless you have to."
National politics play into those fears. Republicans took control of the state House and Senate in 2010 for the first time in 38 years,
but it's uncertain whether GOP voters will rally behind a presidential candidate and flock to the polls in November, or whether Democrats would do the same for President Barack Obama.
What's also uncertain is how those voters who do show up will vote in local and state races.
KEY PLAYER UNCONVINCED
Gov. Mark Dayton, state Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, and state Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, say their plan to build a $975 million stadium on the site of the Metrodome in Minneapolis is sound. It requires the state to pay $398 million using revenue from new electronic pull-tab games, rather than by tapping the state general fund.
A key player remains unconvinced and unwilling to put his political muscle behind the proposal. On Friday, March 16, Zellers raised concerns about what would happen if the pull-tab revenues fell short.
"The backup is the general fund," Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said at a state House briefing. "That's a huge problem. If (it's) taking money out of the general fund, which is schools, which is roads, that doesn't work."
Dayton lashed out this week at Republican leaders for not pushing harder for the stadium after the bill stalled in its first Senate committee hearing Wednesday.
Senate Majority
An artist rendering showing an interior view of the proposed Vikings stadium in Minneapolis. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press)
Leader Dave Senjem waved away allegations that the leadership has failed to get behind the Vikings proposal. He said he expects the committee will revisit the bill in a week or two, and if it's approved, rules will likely be amended to allow it to advance.
"There have been suggestions that somehow leadership held that up," Senjem, R-Rochester, said Friday, speaking at the same news briefing. "I will tell you that is absolutely not the case. Members, me included, have had trouble digesting the bill. ... I'm not altogether sure I could vote for the bill today, given my understanding of electronic pull-tab issues."
Asked how he suspects the Vikings are taking the political to-and-fro at the Capitol, Senjem said politics is politics.
"I hope they understand this is a process," he said. "It's a political process. It involves 201 people. ... This is not an easy process. It's arduous. ... We just have to make sure there's enough people engaged in this decision so it's the right one."
DEMOCRATIC CRITICISM
Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, has been critical of that process. He says Republican leaders introduced the bill late in the session and have failed to rally votes at the committee level.
"I thought the bill should have been introduced months ago. This bill did not have to be perfect upon introduction. Few bills are," Bakk said. "Bills are amended along the way."
In an email, he elaborated on the stalled committee: "You have a Republican-authored bill with a Republican chair and an 8-6 majority." The Republicans apparently didn't have the votes.
Bakk said he could have guaranteed four DFL votes on the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee on Wednesday, but the stadium bill was tabled for further discussion with no firm date for review.
"We made it real easy and bipartisan," Bakk said.
He later added of his Republican counterparts: "If they want to pass it, they can find another vote on their side. ... This is not rocket science. It is only hard because they continue to make it that way."
The 65,000-seat stadium would replace the Metrodome, which the team says is inadequate in today's NFL. Along with the state's portion, the team would chip in $427 million and the city of Minneapolis $150 million through redirected taxes that otherwise support its convention center.
The team hopes to move in for the 2016 season.
CLOSE VOTE PREDICTED
Sieloff was the last Republican to be elected to the Legislature from St. Paul. He still recalls the public rancor that surrounded the Metrodome construction 30 years ago when he was serving in the Legislature. He senses less opposition this time and suspects the stadium proposal will pass eventually, but only by a hair.
"My sense on the thing is they'll cobble together something before it's too late," he said. "It's a Republican Legislature. I think the Republicans will get enough votes to get it through."
That said, he knows plenty of lobbyists who have their work cut out for them contacting lawmakers.
"There's not going to be a caucus position, certainly, on the bill. They've got to get every vote 'by retail,'â " Sieloff said. "Everybody is going to have to get lobbied, one by one. Whatever passes is only going to pass by one or two votes, because no one's going to vote for it if they don't have to. It's not a popular vote. You're using public money for what a lot of people feel to be a private purpose." Leader Dave Senjem waved away allegations that the leadership has failed to get behind the Vikings proposal. He said he expects the committee will revisit the bill in a week or two, and if it's approved, rules will likely be amended to allow it to advance.
"There have been suggestions that somehow leadership held that up," Senjem, R-Rochester, said Friday, speaking at the same news briefing. "I will tell you that is absolutely not the case. Members, me included, have had trouble digesting the bill. ... I'm not altogether sure I could vote for the bill today, given my understanding of electronic pull-tab issues."
Asked how he suspects the Vikings are taking the political to-and-fro at the Capitol, Senjem said politics is politics.
"I hope they understand this is a process," he said. "It's a political process. It involves 201 people. ... This is not an easy process. It's arduous. ... We just have to make sure there's enough people engaged in this decision so it's the right one."
DEMOCRATIC CRITICISM
Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, has been critical of that process. He says Republican leaders introduced the bill late in the session and have failed to rally votes at the committee level.
"I thought the bill should have been introduced months ago. This bill did not have to be perfect upon introduction. Few bills are," Bakk said. "Bills are amended along the way."
In an email, he elaborated on the stalled committee: "You have a Republican-authored bill with a Republican chair and an 8-6 majority." The Republicans apparently didn't have the votes.
Bakk said he could have guaranteed four DFL votes on the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee on Wednesday, but the stadium bill was tabled for further discussion with no firm date for review.
"We made it real easy and bipartisan," Bakk said.
He later added of his Republican counterparts: "If they want to pass it, they can find another vote on their side. ... This is not rocket science. It is only hard because they continue to make it that way."
The 65,000-seat stadium would replace the Metrodome, which the team says is inadequate in today's NFL. Along with the state's portion, the team would chip in $427 million and the city of Minneapolis $150 million through redirected taxes that otherwise support its convention center.
The team hopes to move in for the 2016 season.
CLOSE VOTE PREDICTED
Sieloff was the last Republican to be elected to the Legislature from St. Paul. He still recalls the public rancor that surrounded the Metrodome construction 30 years ago when he was serving in the Legislature. He senses less opposition this time and suspects the stadium proposal will pass eventually, but only by a hair.
"My sense on the thing is they'll cobble together something before it's too late," he said. "It's a Republican Legislature. I think the Republicans will get enough votes to get it through."
That said, he knows plenty of lobbyists who have their work cut out for them contacting lawmakers.
"There's not going to be a caucus position, certainly, on the bill. They've got to get every vote 'by retail,'â " Sieloff said. "Everybody is going to have to get lobbied, one by one. Whatever passes is only going to pass by one or two votes, because no one's going to vote for it if they don't have to. It's not a popular vote. You're using public money for what a lot of people feel to be a private purpose."
(source St. Paul Pioneer Press)
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